Chapter 5 Key Terms Flashcards
Learning
(1) according to behaviorists, a relatively permanent change in behavior that results from experience; (2) according to cognitive theorists, the process by which organisms make relatively permanent changes in the way they represent the environment because of experience.
Classical conditioning
A simple form of learning in which a neural stimulus comes to evoke the response usually evoked by another stimulus by being paired repeatedly with the other stimulus,
Reflex
A simple unlearned response to a stimulus.
Stimulus
An environmental condition that elicits response.
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
A stimulus that elicits a response from an organism prior to conditioning,
Unconditioned response (UCR)
An unlearned response to an unconditioned stimulus.
Extinction
The process by which stimuli lose their ability to evoke learned responses because the events that had followed the stimuli no longer occur (The learned responses are said to be extinguished.)
Spontaneous recovery
The recurrence of an extinguished response as a function of the passage of time.
Flooding
A behavioral fear-reduction technique based on principles of classical conditioning; fear evoking stimuli (CSs) are presented continuously in the absence of actual harm so that fear responses (CRs) are extinguished.
Operant conditioning
A simple form of learning in which an organism learns to engage in behavior because it is reinforced.
Positive reinforcer
A reinforcer that when presented increases the frequency of an operant.
Negative reinforer
A reinforcer that when removed increases the frequency of an operant.
Continuous reinforcement
A schedule of reinforcement in which every correct response in reinforced.
Partial reinforcement
One of several reinforcement schedules in which not every correct response is reinforced.
Shaping
A procedure for teaching complex behaviors that at first reinforces approximations of the target behavior.
